[Child of the 7th Age]

The mother turned to the father with a disturbed look on her face. "What is this lying here?"

He shook his head in disbelief, "I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." He paused a moment and then said to the girl, "Coral, run back to the camps and try to find the wise-woman. She must come down and look at this."

The girl nodded in agreement, and turned about to race up the shoreline once again.

Within a few moments, Coral came back. Behind her was an elderly hobbrim, her face a mass of wrinkles and kindness. The girl took the woman's hand and led her over by the silent body. "Look, Andril, here it is."

Andril knelt beside the still form. She was not afraid. She reached out her hand to stroke the scales, once so beautiful and glittering, now as dusky as the night sky. When she looked up again, tears had begun streaming from her eyes.

"They have come," she whispered. "For the lore speaks of a giant golden dragon who was ridden by Nitir and Azra when they left the shores of Tol Fuin. But what has happened to the riders now, I do not know. I fear for their safety. Coral, run to the elders and tell them what has happened. We must send out scouts to search the shoreline and the waters. And have Brecca come here with his life-giving herbs to tend to this dragon's wounds."

For the third time that day, Coral turned and ran back to find her kin.

[ September 20, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]